The Blue Jackets returned to Columbus late Monday night fresh off a wild five-game swing through Canada during which they played some of their best hockey of the season and some of their worst in recent years.

It appears that only the latter cleared customs.

The Blue Jackets slogged their way through a 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators last night in front of a fitful crowd of 11,893 in Nationwide Arena.

Matt Cullen and Nick Spaling each had a goal and assist and Mike Fisher and David Legwand scored goals for the Predators, who thoroughly outclassed the Jackets seven months to the day after their previous visit to Columbus.

The Jackets won that game — last season’s finale — 3-1 in front of more than 19,000 fans. It would have clinched a playoff spot had they gotten help from Dallas or Colorado that night.

It is a memory growing ever distant. The consistent performances of that thrilling late-season run have been replaced by a maddening stretch of lopsided games.

The Jackets (9-13-3) have won and lost by margins of three goals or more six times each.

“We need to play to our strengths as a team,” center Artem Anisimov said. “We need to find it every night and play the same game, home or road.”

The Jackets were outshot 29-19 (14-4 in the first period). They were turnover-prone and slow to the puck, no more so than when they were caught watching Cullen score from the bottom of the right circle on a feed from Ryan Ellis (two assists) midway through the first period.

Fisher made it 2-0 with a power-play goal in the opening minute of the second when a shot by Roman Josi caromed off net-front traffic and dropped to Fisher for a quick finish.

Legwand stretched the lead to 3-0 at 8:56 of the second when he slipped through the crease and beat goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky on the stick side.

Spaling zipped a puck over the left shoulder of Bobrovsky at 2:02 of the third.

By then, hoots and boos were raining down from all parts of the building. A road-weary Jackets lineup flavored with players from minor-league Springfield was cut no slack.

“We’re a little banged up,” defenseman James Wisniewski said. “We’ll spend some time with the family (today), and maybe it will rejuvenate us.”

Nashville rookie goalie Marek Mazanec recorded his second shutout in nine games and has allowed two goals or fewer in six consecutive games.

Bobrovsky recorded his first shutout of the season on Monday. That 6-0 win at Toronto was the finale of a taxing nine-day trip and the last of a stretch of that included seven of eight games on the road.

“I think there is no excuse,” said Bobrovsky, who has allowed at least four goals in eight of his 21 games. “Every team has the same 82 games. I don’t think it’s the schedule. We have to find a way to play consistently.

“Things are not going good right now. We have to remain strong and work through this.”

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